Writer of the graphic novel Kill All Monsters. Multifarious podcaster.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)

Who's in it?: Antony Carbone (The Pit and the Pendulum); Betsy Jones-Moreland (all those Perry Mason TV movies); Robert Towne (wrote the screenplays for Chinatown, the first two Mission:Impossible movies, and Days of Thunder)

What's it about?: American criminals help Cuban officials smuggle money off the island after Castro's revolution, but plan to steal the loot by claiming that a sea monster is murdering the guards and forcing them to divert course. Unfortunately, the monster is REAL!

How is it?: It's a Roger Corman movie, so adjust expectations accordingly. Also, it's a comedy. The monster is absolutely ridiculous-looking, but it's supposed to be. The film spoofs everything from monster movies to spy films and musicals and it's often legitimately, intentionally funny. I laughed out loud several times. There's an especially memorable scene where the girlfriend (Jones-Moreland) of the lead crook (Carbone) croons a song to entertain the crew and continues unfazed when a gunfight erupts around her. Towne is also very funny as the deadpan, hapless secret agent XK150 who's undercover on the boat to spy on the bad guys.

Stuff I Wrote

Dark Horse Presents #12-14, featuring an all-new Kill All Monsters story, "The Ministry of Robots" by Michael May and Jason Copland. Color version only available in back issue bins, but you can read the complete, reformatted story in Kill All Monsters Omnibus, Volume 1.

"The Forbidden Island;" short story in Athena Voltaire: Pulp Tales (Action Lab Entertainment). Available on Amazon and other fine bookstores.

"The Murderous Scarecrow;" short story in The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible. Available on Amazon and other fine bookstores.